Religious freedom: cornerstone of dialogue and collaboration
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi on Wednesday urged political leaders to safeguard the right
of individuals and of communities to religious freedom.
In a statement released
in Geneva at the 22nd Session of the Human Rights Council on the Report of the Special
Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Archbishop Tomasi who is the Permanent
Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations
said that "While the State should enforce the universality of human rights by balancing
freedom and equality, it often identifies itself with the “dominant community” in
a way that unfortunately relegates minorities to a second class status".
Please
find the full text of Archbishop Tomasi's statement below.
Mr. President, Religious
freedom is also a duty, a responsibility to be fulfilled both by individuals and religious
groups. The recognition of the religious freedom of individuals and social groups
implies that they should act by the same standards of the freedom they enjoy and such
a condition justifies their presence as important and authentic actors in the public
square. To eclipse the public role of religion creates a society which is unjust since
it would fail to take into account the true nature of the human person and would stifle
the growth of authentic and lasting peace for the whole human family. The Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief has rightly focused his Report on the
many human rights violations perpetrated against persons belonging to religious minorities.
States may be directly involved through indifference toward some of their citizens
or through the political will to marginalize, suppress or even eliminate communities
with a different identity no matter how long they historically have been rooted in
their own country. In some circumstances, non-State actors also take an active and
even violent role by attacking religious minorities. The extensive indication of the
variety of violations reported offers a realistic picture of today’s oppression of
religious minorities and should serve as a call to action. However, the Report
underplays the basic issue that minorities are defined either from the perspective
of a “majority” or from the perspective of other “minorities”. Moreover, according
to the Report the State should act in a neutral way in the recognition of religious
groups. Indeed, the Report defines individual persons as holders of the right to freedom
of religion and sees the goal of protection of religious freedom directed at “ensuring
the survival and continued development of the cultural, religious and social identity
of the minorities concerned”. It indicates individual protection of religious freedom
as the way to achieve the protection of religious communities, a process that will
not translate automatically in their protection. In fact, the Report itself shows
very well that most violations of religious freedom occur at the religious group level.
While the State should enforce the universality of human rights by balancing freedom
and equality, it often identifies itself with the “dominant community” in a way that
unfortunately relegates minorities to a second class status, thus also creating problems
for the religious freedom of individuals. Individual freedoms and rights can be
reconciled and harmonized with those of the community that wants to preserve its identity
and integrity. There is no opposing dialectical process, but a necessary complementarity.
The person should not become a prisoner of the community nor should the community
become vulnerable simply because of the assertion of individual freedom. The Special
Rapporteur rightly states that by stressing too narrow an understanding of equality,
we may lose the diversity and specificity of freedom. The legal recognition of
a minority is the starting point for the necessary harmony between individual and
group freedom. By adopting such a realistic approach to this issue the coexistence
of communities is facilitated in a climate of relative tolerance. However, before
such a realistic approach can be pursued, legal status must be granted to religious
communities as is required by the innate human right of any person, which precedes
and is binding on the State. We fully agree then with the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation:
“What the State can and should do is create favourable conditions for persons belonging
to religious minorities to ensure that they can take their faith related affairs in
their own hands in order to preserve and further develop their religious community
life and identity” . Only through respect for this balance can both
peaceful coexistence and the advancement of all human rights be attained. The State’s
role as guardian and enforcer of the freedom of religion not only for individuals
but also for religious communities reveals that this balance is highly political.
The secular State often is not neutral toward existing religious communities; not
even in Western democracies where liberalism leads not so much to a neutral society
but to one without a public presence of religion. But the State can preserve a religious
identity provided it acts with neutrality and justice toward all religious groups
in its territory. It can be added that the State should monitor violations of freedom
of conscience and the Rapporteur should address in this connection conscientious objection
when it becomes impossible for a person to conform to the dominant social norms that
are in contrast with moral dictates. Mr President, Religions are communities
based on faith or belief, and their freedom guarantees a contribution of moral values
without which the freedom of everyone is not possible. The recognition of the freedom
of other religious communities does not reduce one’s own freedoms. On the contrary,
the acceptance of the religious freedom of other persons and groups is the corner
stone of dialogue and collaboration. Genuine freedom of religion bans violence and
coercion, and it opens the road to peace and authentic human development through mutual
recognition. The experience, and by now a tradition, of interreligious dialogue in
Western societies proves the value of a reciprocal recognition of religious freedom.
In today’s world, because of their faith or belief, persons belonging to religious
minorities experience various degrees of abuse that run from physical attacks to kidnapping
for ransom, from arbitrary detention and obstacles in requesting registration, to
stigmatization. Effective protection of the human rights of persons belonging to religious
minorities is lacking or inadequately addressed even in the U.N. and international
systems. Lately this worrying situation has caught the attention of some Governments
and segments of civil society. Thus awareness about this serious problem has become
more evident. On the other hand, widespread discrimination affecting religious minorities
persists and even increases.